Managing Crisis within International Joint Ventures Insights from the case of Délice-Danone during the Arab Spring in Tunisia

Much of the extant literature attends to the question of how governance mechanisms are set and implemented in order to ensure international joint-ventures (IJV) performance. However, there is much to be told on particular organizational phenomena and situations that IJV can go through such as: Crisis. Crisis are unanticipated and unpredictable situations that paralyze organizations in a given period of time and threaten their survival. Successful crisis management requires the bricolage and the implementation of emerging new organizational practices and managerial processes. This paper aims at addressing the question of how IJV partners navigate through crisis and how new governance mechanisms emerge and are implemented in order to protect the assets of both partners and to ensure the continuity of the IJV. Our findings are built on the insight derived from a single case study of an IJV located in Tunisia that went through the Arab Spring crisis. Our empirical analysis show that: (1) creating ad hoc structures, (2) strengthening partners' commitment and (3) the emergence of transitional leadership helped going through the crisis of Arab Spring and moreover, ensured the continuity of the IJV Délice-Danone in Tunisia.